Dominguez’s 16 Wins May Be 1 Too Many

The Compton Dominguez girls’ basketball team might have set a state record for playing the most games in a month. The Dons capped a busy December by winning the Los Angeles Invitational Division B title last Thursday and running their record to 16-1. They opened the season Dec. 2.

“Everybody keeps asking me if the girls are tired,” said Albert Turner, Dominguez’s second-year coach. “But it’s very hard to tell with girls. I told them they could skip practice on New Year’s Day, and they got mad at me.”

After several nonleague victories, Dominguez started a busy tournament schedule by winning the Las Vegas Holiday Classic. The Dons followed that with titles at the Santa Ana Calvary Chapel tournament and L.A. Invitational.

By playing on almost every available day in December, the Dons wound up practicing on game days. Turner said his young team needed the time together on the court; forward Markisha Woods is the team’s only senior.

But the 17 games in 28 days might have violated Southern Section rules. A team cannot play more than six games in a tournament, and the Dons played seven at Las Vegas. Dean Crowley, section commissioner, said he is reviewing the team’s schedule. If a violation is found, he said, the school might have to cancel a game.

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A couple of local boys’ basketball teams--Compton Dominguez and Crenshaw--gained national recognition during the holidays.

Dominguez upset top-seeded Oak Hill Academy of Virginia in the second round of the Las Vegas Invitational two weeks ago, 65-48. Oak Hill started the tournament as the top-rated team in the country. Dominguez lost the next day, however, to Westchester.

Crenshaw replaced Oak Hill as No. 1 team in USA Today’s ratings last week after winning the Palms Classic tournament in Ft. Meyers, Fla. But the Cougars faltered last week at the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C., losing twice and finishing fourth.

After his team lost to Philadelphia Simon Gratz in the semifinals, Crenshaw Coach Willie West benched center Kristaan Johnson for disciplinary reasons. Without Johnson, the City Section 4-A Division player of the year in 1992-93, Crenshaw lost to Richland Northeast of South Carolina in the third-place game, 74-65.

“It was a coaching decision,” West said of benching Johnson.

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Santa Ana Mater Dei replaced Crenshaw as the Southland’s top team. The Monarchs improved to 14-0 by defeating Long Beach Wilson in the championship game of the Orange tournament last Thursday at Chapman University, 82-60.

An already talented Mater Dei team has been helped by the addition of Schea Cotton, a freshman who recently transferred from St. John Bosco in Bellflower. Cotton, a 6-foot-5 forward, made his debut with the Monarchs on Dec. 22, coming off the bench to score 17 points in a victory over Orange El Modena. He started against Wilson and scored 22.

Another team to watch is Westchester, which has won nine in a row since starting the season 4-3. The Comets lost to Mater Dei and Los Alamitos in the Tournament of Champions in Huntington Beach in mid-December but won the Las Vegas Invitational and the Lakewood Artesia tournament.

Westchester defeated East Anchorage of Alaska, 83-81, in double overtime in the final of the Los Vegas Invitational two weeks ago, and knocked off Inglewood in the Artesia championship game last Thursday, 66-53.

“We returned four starters and seven players this season, so we expected to be good,” Westchester Coach Ed Azzam said.

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Melissa Hearlihy asked her girls’ basketball team at Mission Hills Alemany to make a big commitment this season to winning a Southern Section championship. So Hearlihy was not about to stay home and rest after the birth of her first child three weeks ago.

Hearlihy, in her ninth season with the Indians, had a Cesarean section, giving birth to a son, Joshua, on Dec. 15. The next week, she was back on the court, directing Alemany to the championship of the Simi Valley tournament.

“I definitely felt a little tired coming back so quick,” said Hearlihy, whose team started 11-0. “But I couldn’t stand not to be on the bench.”

Alemany did not play in a tournament last week, giving its coach a much-needed rest.

Prep Notes

The Cerritos Gahr girls’ basketball team will have to forfeit its 10 victories for using an ineligible player. Dean Crowley, Southern Section commissioner, said the player in question is a junior transfer student who started every game last month. . . . The Harvard-Westlake boys’ team is off to its best start at 12-0. It upset Glendora for the championship of the Covina tournament last Thursday. The Wolverines are led by freshmen Jason and Jarron Collins, identical twins. Jason, a 6-8 center, is averaging 17 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots and was MVP of the Covina tournament. Jarron, a 6-7 forward, is averaging nine points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. “It is very difficult for our opponents to tell them apart,” said Greg Hilliard, Harvard-Westlake’s coach. “I don’t even know who is who half the time.”

The Roosevelt girls’ team withdrew from the L.A. Invitational last week because its coach protested a late scheduling change. After the Roughriders defeated Dorsey in the quarterfinals, they were supposed to play Santa Monica Crossroads in the semifinals. But Jerry Weiner, the tournament director, said he made a mistake on the bracket and told Coach Lorenzo Garcia that Roosevelt instead would play top-seeded Lynwood in the semifinals. Upset over the last-minute change, Garcia pulled his team out of the tournament. . . . Brea-Olinda solidified its position as the No. 1 girls’ basketball team in the Southland by defeating Lake Oswego Lakeridge of Oregon in the championship game of the Alaska Invitational in Anchorage last Thursday, 63-54. Guard Nicole Erickson scored 38 points in the title game for the Ladycats (11-0).